A woman watched her two-year-old daughter deteriorate and die in severe pain after a four-week campaign of abuse, a court has heard.

Zahbeena Navsarka and Subhan Anwar, both 21, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, are charged with murdering the "vulnerable and defenceless" toddler.

The couple are accused of repeatedly assaulting Sanam over a month-long period or encouraging each other by standing by and doing nothing to save the little girl.

Continuing the prosecution's opening of the case at Bradford Crown Court, Julian Goose QC said: "Sanam died as a result of really serious injuries, deliberately inflicted upon her, over a period of up to four weeks before her death.

"It was not over a short period of time, it was not unexpected or unpredictable. It was over a long time as they both watched that two-year-old little girl in severe pain deteriorate until she died."

He added: "The defendants either inflicted that violence upon her together or one encouraged the other, standing by and doing nothing over all those weeks whilst she was being repeatedly assaulted and severely injured.

"The conduct of the defendants, together, when they saw her deteriorate was from a normal, happy child to one in severe pain, unable to walk and suffering regular fits."

The jury of six men and six women were told that the defendants left Sanam alone and dying in their home while they went to register with their GP on the day of her death.

The court also heard how tiny handprints and bloodstains were found inside cupboards at the home in Huddersfield and also at a former property in Batley, West Yorkshire.

Anwar, who is not Sanam's father, admitted to police after his arrest that he put the girl in the cupboard as a punishment and said Navsarka punished her in the same way.

When the couple were interviewed by police after Sanam's death on May 8, 2008, they blamed each other for the injuries Sanam had suffered and both claimed to be frightened of the other, Mr Goose said.

The court has heard how Sanam was found to have 107 separate external injuries when she died.

Both her thigh bones had been fractured, causing fatty deposits to enter her bloodstream and resulting in her death, and she had fractures to both her arms.

The couple claimed Sanam had stopped breathing after they left her alone in the bath for ten minutes and returned to find her under the water.

But a pathologist who conducted a post-mortem examination on Sanam ruled out drowning as a cause of death.

Both deny murder and Anwar also denies a charge of causing or allowing the death of a child.

Navsarka has admitted an alternative charge of failing to protect Sanam.

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